Tainted
by D'n'A Productions
Summary: Subspace taints all that it touches. Tabuu touched Subspace. Tabuu was tainted. The Smashers killed Tabuu. They touched Subspace to do so. It was only a matter of time...Rated T because I'm paranoid. A remake of the 1st one for you guys who read it.
1. Recruiting

**Hello, chums! I have a couple messages to start out with...**

**For those of you who read Tainted, good for you! You found the remake! No characters will be accepted this time, but all the old ones will stay (including those I didn't have time to work in).**

**For those who have no clue what I'm talking about, here's the story- I made a story called Tainted a while back with basically the same plotline as this one- unfortunately, it got banned (well, actually, a warning to get banned) because people could turn in characters for the story. So this is the remake where people can't turn in characters, but I still retained the old ones. Kapish?**

**Aaron (my partner in writing) says this chapter is "alright"...I have a bad feeling about this.  
**

**And...that's just about it. Huh.

* * *

**

The moon hung in the sky like a great orb, briefly illuminating the silhouette of a caped figure who flew with bat-like wings. Silently, with the stealth of a trained warrior, the figure alighted- too small to be human, the wrong proportions to be...anything. At least of this world.

Carefully drawing a sword in the shape of a flame, the creature glided forward, watching as two groups advanced for each other.

The first were almost on par with him- but that was only because they lugged around so much equipment. Night-vision goggles bathed the soldier's sight radius in dull green, guns were up and ready to fire.

The second was composed of ragtag group, stomping clumsily along- a few weapons, a few skilled. Most seemed to be hoping to win on faith. The knight sneered. Pathetic.

With only a small dust cloud to mark his presence, the figure swung his cape around him and disappeared. Materializing out of thin air next to a straggler in the second group, he seized the man's head and forced it to the ground, cloaking it in his cape.

* * *

**Meta Knight**

**

* * *

**

The captured soldier's muffled screaming went unnoticed.

When Meta Knight backed away, the writhing man was already paralyzed with fear, as hundreds of small, spherical, violent purple _things_ crawled around him.

Meta Knight drew a cell phone, plain and nondescript, from the billowing folds of his cape. "Do you have confirmation?"

"Oh, yeah. We got him good.", came the reply, in a rough sneer.

"Enough, Wario. Ugh, these humans! Can't we just kill this one- all he does is gibber about something called Allah!"

"Allah? Is he a king? Some kind of champion of this man's people?"

"No, no- Allah is the god of these people. Sheez, Meta, you just had to go and snag a freaking terrorist?"

"They do not inspire much terror, Snake. In fact, this human appears to be the one in fear, not causing it."

"And what does he fear? Keep the purpose of the mission in mind."

"He fears...several countries. America being the foremost- the Americans are the ones he was about to face. America is the most powerful."

"You know, you could have just asked me that. Why'd we go through all the trouble of capturing an insurgent?"

"Time passes differently in our world than this one, Snake. You, of all people, should know that."

"Enough! It is settled. We shall build our army in the land called America."

* * *

"You know that 'listen' and 'silent' are spelled with the same words. Is that why you don't talk?"

The boy said nothing. He just raised an eyebrow.

* * *

**Nathan, the Silent**

**

* * *

**

Dr. F. Roy Dean Schlipp rubbed his temples. All his other cases were easy- test anxiety, mostly, but this boy! He just sat there. He didn't say a thing. He didn't _give_ Schlipp anything to work with. And what's more, the good doctor _knew_ there was a brain behind the silence.

"You are not dumb, Nathan."

The teenager's face twitched, almost imperceptibly. Then his apathy continued. He continued to stare, unblinking, at Dr. Schlipp's brown eyes with his own, pale gray.

Dr. Schlipp wrote something down, and leaned back in his leather, swivel chair. "Fine, then. As I said, 'listen' and 'silent' are spelled the same. I will listen to you, even if you have nothing to say."

The man, in his tweed jacket, looked down his long nose at the boy, at his blank face, at his bristly, black hair and thin lips.

The seconds ticked by, followed by minutes. And then a whole hour had passed, and neither had said a thing.

Then all the windows in the little office simultaneously shattered.

Schlipp didn't even have time to make a sound- a golden disc simply flew through the air, caught him on the head, and he was consumed in a blinding golden light. Two vaguely humanoid figures jumped in through the window, completely ignoring the broken glass beneath their feet.

The first pointed at the now still figurine of Nathan's therapist, and turned to the second, who merely shook his head. Then they saw Nathan.

The diminutive creatures didn't really look dangerous- comically proportioned limbs hung off of a cylindrical body, as oval red eyes stared from a little sphere of a head. There was even a little feather dangling from their heads.

They didn't look dangerous. If it hadn't been for the big, nasty looking guns cocked on their hands.

Nathan was still sitting in the chair, caught in a kind of deer-in-the-headlights reaction. It wasn't like his entire life was flashing before his eyes- but suddenly, everything in the world seemed so small.

Time wasn't important anymore- in those few seconds, Nathan saw the room he had spent so many hours in with astonishing clarity. Shelves full of psychological textbooks lined the beige walls of the study, and the mahogany desk was cluttered with notes and an ancient desktop.

There was a picture of Schlipp, a woman, and a little boy.

_His family._ Nathan realized in the same slow-motion way that the world seemed to be in.

There was also a tiny, porcelain elephant figurine on his desk, ornately decorated and of some Oriental origin.

_He always did like elephants_. Nathan thought, and snickered. For some reason, that was funny.

Then a revolving golden disc hit him square in the forehead, and a trophy lay still on the ground.

One of the Primids dissolved into a mass of purple spheres, crawling across the stained carpet like ants, and swarming Nathan's trophy. Several seconds passed as the clumps on him grew larger, and larger, until an exact replica of Nathan stood before the fallen original. Dark Nathan raised an eyebrow at his comrade, in exactly the same way the Silent had done to Dr. Schlipp.

"Too old." warbled the second Primid, shaking it's head. "No use."

The copy shrugged, as if to say, "Your loss".

Stretching his new limbs, Dark Nathan jumped out of a broken window and grinned at the chaos around him. The invasion had begun.

* * *

**And that's it for the not-prologue. It's kind of short, but the horrible, horrible thing known as reality is catching up to me. Soon I think I'll be writing dark poetry about homework...  
**

**For the people who read "Tainted", you know how different this is from the old version- and maybe it's worse. O.o. Remember to review and tell me.**

**And for those who didn't, still review. I have a slight (OK, big) suspicion that you guys will have no idea what's going on.  
**

**Uh...I think that's it. Until next time- ta, chums!  
**


	2. Big Entrance

**Hello, chums! Not much really to report...on a completely unrelated side note, I just finished all 563 chapters of One Piece...**

**Ahem. Enough padding the word count.**

**Oh, and by the way, for the oldies- elephants own beetles any day.

* * *

**

A Hocotate Freight ship is a simple, oblong mass of scrap metal, wiring, and a cargo hold. The pilot sits upfront in beaten, leather chairs and controls the craft with a joystick while listening to tinny intergalactic radio. There are at most three dials on the dashboard- one for fuel level, another for speed, and a radar screen.

A Hocotate Treasure-Collector is a huge behemoth of complex knobs, dials, and wheels. The head of the ship is decorated with numerous gadgets and gizmos of sorts, and the cockpit has a certain resemblance to a disco ball, with all of the data orifices flashing sporadically. The instruction manual comes in two volumes, and pilots usually need years of training before even thinking about piloting it.

Going straight from a Freight to a Treasure-Collector is comparable to going straight from a tricycle to the _Apollo XI._

And so it is understandable that the blond Hocotatian cadet was sweating profusely and silently cursing this entire screwed up affair.

The half dozen Bullet Bills in hot pursuit didn't exactly help the matter.

* * *

**Louie**

**

* * *

**Gritting his teeth, the young Hocotatian stole a backward glance- and immediately gunned the throttle, shaken by how close his pursuers were.

He glanced down at the target of the Smash- no, the Subspace Army. A school building, nondescript but an excellent place to harvest trophies in their prime.

_Ah, well. Olimar does it all the time. And besides, I have no idea how else to land this thing._

Louie swerved the ship so that the nose was pointing straight at the heart of the ensuing chaos, and floored it.

The resulting explosion blew debris in every direction, leaving a sunken crater in the concrete. Dizzy, Louie stumbled out of the wreck of the Hocotate Ship, and knelt down to steady himself. His hand brushed something gold and shiny.

Then the trophy of The Silent was wrapped in a cocoon of light, and Louie blanched as something huge emerged from the already fading radiance.

* * *

Nathan's first thought was that he had somehow gone to Heaven, had a little chat with God before He reincarnated him as...this.

But then he saw the holes in his reasoning.

One, his thoughts would be a lot more...elephant-y. No Heaven or God debate.

Two, he would be only a baby- and yet, here Nathan was, a fully grown Asian bull elephant.

And finally, The Silent was still inside the school where he had thought he had died.

These were Nathan's first disoriented thoughts. Then a burning sensation seared his left side, and his foggy human mind succumbed to the beast's.

Trumpeting his fury to the sky, Beast-Nathan whipped on the unfortunate Scope Primid who had been stupid enough to shoot him. A tusk impaled the frail creature before it dissolved into a swarm of purple spheres.

At this point, several other Primids had noticed the elephant now rampaging among them- and they, too, displayed a rather large amount of simple mindedness by firing on Nathan as well.

Now, the Discovery Channel and National Geographic make a point not to show cute and cuddly creatures that are marketed as plush toys gouging out each others blood and guts if they can help it. That's why you only ever see pandas mellowly eating bamboo or kangaroos frolicking in the Outback. And elephants only show up when they're bringing attention to the poachers or if Disney decides to showcase an elephant family for a little fast money.

Those tusks exist for more than being cut off and sold as medical superstition. And contrary to popular belief, elephants do not sit on their butts all day eating tree leaves.

Nathan charged, muscular legs pounding on the ground and raising veritable dust clouds, spearing two more Primids before they had the chance to react. A third loosed one shot before a trunk reached out like a whip, wrapped the creature in a death crunch, and tossed aside the already dissolving body like a rag doll. The last two showed a resemblance of intelligence, sneaking around behind the rampaging beast- then they jumped on his back and started shooting at point-blank range.

The Silent sat on those two. To the little fellows it must have seemed like the sky falling.

Nathan backed off into a wall (subsequently punching a hole in it with an extra backwards step) as more Primids swarmed around him, and he let loose another fierce some battle cry- it rang of defiance, but also of rage, pain, confusion, and most of all- fear. Louie scrambled out of the battlefield, ignoring his bruises and burns. This creature was worse than angry. He was scared.

Louie had seen this once before, in an Emperor Bulblax that had been woken from it's slumber by some fiery Red Pikmin- it had burst from the ground with bulging eyes and gaping maw, and had decimated the 100-strong army of Pikmin. Olimar had been forced to use a petrification spray on the monster before escaping with a fifth of his original forces.

The Hocotatian whistled frantically. The ten idle Pikmin, one half white and half purple, huddled inside the wreckage of the ship, perked up. It was a pitiful number compared to Olimar's five-score and constantly growing army. They were still only in their youngest stage of maturation, with a leaf atop their stems.

Suddenly, the Pikmin began pointing and squealing in fright- Louie whistled harder, egging them away from the rampaging elephant. But then he realized the Pikmin were not panicking- they were warning him, cowering beneath the pile of twisted metal because something was coming up behind him. Something big.

He dove out of the way just as the something big took a step forward. If the cadet had waited even one more second, he would have been flattened to a pancake by the gargantuan monolith.

It was yet another elephant, but only a facsimile swollen to bursting point by the numerous Shadow Bugs that lent their mass to its girth. The mammoth elephant roared, its deep, brazen sound booming over the battlefield. Hastily, the Primids heckling Nathan scattered to make way.

Somewhere, deep beneath the layers of animal fury, Nathan woke up. Both the human and the elephant knew they were no match for their own super-sized clone. Nathan bowed his head and backed away, not daring to make eye contact.

Shadow Nathan snorted contemptuously, kicking Nathan aside to gather a few more trophies in it's python-like trunk. Stalking away, the mammoth roared again- a call of retreat, but also victory.

The mission was over. They had won.

* * *

Nathan blinked sweat from his elephantine eyes. He remembered in a haze what he had done and how he had done it...he faintly recalled the heat of anger. But now all he felt was a stinging sensation in his ribs.

Gargantuan chest heaving, Nathan brought the image of himself, of his human self to mind, wishing that he could find a way back...and he did. Tusks shrunk until they shriveled into white gas, and leathery gray skin smoothed out into a peachy complexion. The ears crumpled up like leaves on an autumn day, and slowly the elephant shrunk.

Somehow, Nathan had retained his clothing- a woolly, gray sweater and a pair of khakis were in astonishingly good shape. Nathan had no shoes, though, and broken shards of glass stuck out like hedgehog quills on the soles of his feet.

Wincing, the boy took out the shards gingerly. Each cut burned like fire, and every time he removed a fragment, a lance of pain shot through his entire body.

Eventually, the various aches and pains dulled until only his side hurt- Nathan felt his ribs and suddenly his face contorted in silent agony as if someone had just pressed a red hot iron to his body. When Nathan examined his hand, he found it covered with sticky, red blood. Groaning, The Silent collapsed on the ground, any glass pulverized by his elephantine fall.

He closed his eyes, and pretended that soon he would wake up and the nightmare would be over. But he knew there would be no waking up. The pain was real, more real than anything he had felt before. No dream could simulate that kind of pain.

Or that kind of fear.

What were those creatures, and the spheres? Where had they come from? And if Nathan had somehow been resurrected...did that mean Dr. Schlipp had survived? And Nathan's classmates? What of them?

Suddenly, something touched his side- his eyes snapped open, his back arced, and his mouth stretched open to let out a silent scream of agony. Sweat dripped from his face, from a mixture of pain, fear, and weariness, as Nathan struggled to raise one fatigued hand to support himself as he turned to see who had fiddled with his injuries.

He almost fainted right then and there as he saw a little man in a blue astronaut suit followed by a little posse of...creatures. They resembled the things he had fought, but smaller, more solidly colored, and there were leaves on their heads instead of feathers.

Nathan gave a weak grin at the alien before falling back on the ground, coughing flecks of scarlet blood all over his brand-new sweater.

"Stay down." the alien astronaut _thing_ ordered. "Don't talk and don't try to get up. Most of your ribs are broken and the Scopes burned you pretty bad. Probably tired as hell, now, too, after nearly taking out a full squad of Primids."

Struggling to stay conscious as the alien fiddled with something he couldn't see, Nathan lay panting in the dirt. Where these the janitors of the sudden invasion? The guys who picked up and dumped the bodies and shot any survivors?

Either way, Nathan didn't care. He had come back to life once. He wasn't so sure about doing so again.

And just before The Silent let go, a bottle of water was thrust in front of his face- the sudden coldness jerked him back to reality. A cool cleanliness washed the grime off of Nathan's face, and a trickle got into his mouth.

It tasted like the drink of life.

Nathan sprang up- actually _sprang_- into a sitting position. A little bit of water dripped off of his chin, and he hastily wiped it up and put his finger into his mouth. Again, a sudden burst of energy rushed through him.

"I'm telling you, kid," the alien said, sitting down next to Nathan. "Food is _not_ overrated. Works wonders on trophies like us. I once knew a guy who had every bone in his body broken and all it took was a carton of milk before he was dancing to K.K. Rider again."

As he spoke, the astronaut reached inside a pouch on his waist and drew a second water bottle and some beef jerky. As Nathan reached to take it, the duo's eyes met.

"I'm Louie, by the way."

Nathan just nodded his head in acknowledgment before tearing into the beef jerky. Something crunched inside of him- Nathan jumped, feeling his side. It was still covered in blood, but it didn't hurt anymore. Of their own accord, the glass in his foot broke, shattering into powder- the throbbing pain disappeared completely.

"That would be your ribs fixing 'emselves.", Louie remarked, absentmindedly teasing a purple Pikmin with his finger.

The boy consumed his meat and water hungrily, devouring it in what seemed like no time. It was refreshing, to have food inside his belly- but the sudden fullness of his stomach reminded Nathan of his emptiness everywhere else. He lay back down again. His wounds were healed- at least, his physical ones.

Louie punched Nathan playfully in the side. "Come on, kid, lighten up! Say something, at least. Not like we have anything else to do. Have a little small talk, relax."

Nathan just remained silent. He was thinking. Thinking about how any of this made sense. What was this, some sick, twisted rendition of _War of the Worlds_? What was going on?

The Hocotatian sighed. "Kid, I know you must be frustrated." Louie said, as if reading his thoughts. "I was, too, when Master Hand first came to us. Didn't have a clue what all this trophy nonsense was. You'll get used to it. The answers will come."

No answer.

"Besides, finding something is so much easier when a friend's there to help. What do you say, kid?"

Louie held out his hand. Nathan regarded it. Making a promise like that would just drag him further into whatever kind of plot this was. It would involve him in what looked like war. It would rip apart his life.

The Silent shook it.

The two sat there, alone in the sea of rubble. They didn't talk. Unspoken agreement had come between them.

Although, to be truthful, they weren't alone.

* * *

The Primid sentries marched dutifully by. Nothing seemed amiss, so they kept walking down their assigned pathway.

But of course, whenever sentries feel like that, something is obviously amiss.

As the Primid's footsteps faded down the corridor, the metal wall seemed to ripple. A person-shaped bulge seemed to be passing along it- occasionally, edges of a woman flickered into view. Occasionally, flashes of color came into sight.

Suddenly, the flashes grew exponentially in frequency, until the woman was fully revealed.

She wore stealth black, just in case her cloaking device stopped working, which it had. Her long black hair was tied up in a ponytail to keep it from getting into her golden eyes- nevertheless, she had to sweep away two golden, almost antenna-like bangs to clear her vision.

* * *

**Ayane, the Dragon**

* * *

Ayane slapped the small metal disk irritably, but she remained as visible as a fat man's behind.

"Stupid frog...", she muttered. "I'm gonna kill Slippy when I get back..."

Infiltrating the Halberd had been hard enough invisible- now that she could be seen, Ayane doubted she'd have more than a minute before someone discovered her.

Then the entire plan would be ruined. All her fault.

Shoulders hunched, head forward, Ayane dashed with light steps down the corridor, deeper into the metal labyrinth. Maybe is she was lucky-

Then a blaring alarm sounded, right above her head, and an onslaught of Primids appeared on both ends of the corridor.

Swearing under her breath, Ayane took a detour down a side corridor, less well lit and possibly a way out. There was no way she could take out _all_ of those Primids.

She skidded to a halt- it was a dead end. Barred cages ran along the entire corridor, which blossomed into a huge cargo hold with even more cages. All of them had trophies inside them.

Out of nowhere, a concentrated ball of energy flew past her head, missing by centimeters. Ayane dove to the side, sheltering behind one of the cages as the flood of Primids came in, searching for the intruder.

_You guys better know how to fight_, she thought, and The Dragon broke open the two cages closest to her, tapping the two trophies briefly before turning to the Primids. Several carried guns and boomerangs, another few were bright red and had already begun crushing any hope of escape by blowing flames over the entrance, and one was huge, dwarfing the others by several times.

This was going to get ugly.

* * *

A grizzled old war veteran sat in a rather nondescript sofa, reading a newspaper with one leg crossed over the other, as if he was waiting to enter the doctor's office. A thin trail of smoke wafted up for behind the cheap paper the news was printed on.

* * *

**Snake**

**

* * *

**

Except there was no doctor's office- just a corridor with two identical, wooden and worn doors on either end. His paper was illuminated by a single fluorescent bulb dangling from the ceiling from a frayed wire.

The light flickered suddenly, as one door slammed open and a gust of wind and sea water flooded through. A flash of lightning boomed behind the person who stepped through the door, before he slammed it shut and the storm outside suddenly muted.

Snake didn't even look up.

Making small splashing sounds as he walked through puddles, the sodden boy, for he was only a boy, stopped in front of Snake, halfway down the corridor.

"Rough weather?", Snake asked, not even looking up from his paper.

The boy shrugged. "The Bermuda Triangle has a reputation, doesn't it? Plenty die when they stumble across the Lobby."

"And Meta Knight? Why isn't he with you?"

The boy sat down on the worn leather next to Snake. "You know that sidekick of Olimar's?"

"What about him?"

"He caused some trouble at one of our hot spots. Woke up a trophy, a real gem among the ones we got. Elephant morphing powers."

"Did we recruit him?"

"Nah. Got a clone before the crash-landing screwed up collecting him, and you know Primids. They can't do anything but follow orders, so the clone beat up both pretty badly before they left."

"Pity. So Meta Knight's going to clean up the mess?"

"Yeah. Might squeeze some information out of Louie, see if he was alone in his venture."

"Ah. I take it the Halberd ran into no trouble?"

"I got a call that someone had tripped the alarm, after I left. Shouldn't have been a problem."

"If that's it, you better get to the other side. I can't leave the Lobby until Meta Knight gets back- he's probably trying to make sure I don't take over the entire Council before he comes back."

Both of them gave a little snort at that, but only because it was true.

The boy rose to leave, leaving dark, wet marks on the linoleum as he crossed to the other end of the hallway. As he opened the door, sunlight and a light breeze came in from the other side. Just before he walked through the door, he paused to say his parting words.

"See you, Dad."

* * *

**You did not see that coming! No, you did not! Don't try to deny it!**

**But, personally, I didn't either. It was just a sudden stroke of literary inspiration (and before all of you ask, I don't believe in that kind of pairing crap. I have no problem with others writing about it, but I personally think that characters should stay true to the base that the original creators gave us. So there's no romantic implications here. At all. Trust me.).**

**Anyway, there's more to this than a sudden blow-your-mind plot twist- I actually thought a lot of it out before deciding to include "the boy" in there. Keep reading to find out!**

**Other than that...I'm trying to control my character introducing. After all, its all up to me to make new ones (though I think I have enough already)...**

**That just about sums it up, I think. Until next time- ta, chums!  
**


	3. Falling Down

**Hello, chums! Teehee...you didn't see it coming...**

**Any who, in response to Mr. Wang, if you don't like the Russian accent thing (couldn't really tell from your review), I could get rid of it. Also, I didn't take down the former Tainted because I noticed the rule- a user, who I think was some kind of moderator, reviewed and warned me. Banning, the whole shebang.**

**Also, for Lady of Realities...I can't answer that question. It's kind of a major plot device later on.**

**Is that it? I think so. Onwards, then!

* * *

**

Silence is a warrior's greatest virtue. Yelling and screaming is only for showcase combat, and if killing must be done, it should quickly and efficiently.

Meta Knight was a great warrior.

With only a slight swirl of dust to mark his presence, Meta Knight wrapped himself in his cape, materializing right in front of the oblivious duo.

Louie didn't even have time to express his surprise when Galaxia sent him flying. With a sickening crack, the cadet crashed into a fallen stone block- foot long cracks spider-webbed across its surface.

Jumping to his feet, Nathan raised clenched fists, skin already turning gray and wrinkly. Meta Knight smirked behind his mask, drawing Galaxia back to strike.

Coughing and stumbling, Louie shouted, "No!".

Both combatants turned to him, hesitant. "You...you can't take him, kid. Not yet. Don't..."

Meta Knight slipped Galaxia beneath the folds of his cloak. "He's right. You better just come quietly. It'll be worse if you don't. Or..."

Suddenly, the diminutive knight's hand was outstretched- his eyes were neither friendly nor malevolent. They showed only cold calculation.

"From what I see, you've got talent. How about it?"

Nathan's arm began to rise- then it fell limply to the side. His eyes darted from Meta Knight to Louie, uncertain. It was obvious they weren't on the same side. And if Louie was against the creatures who had attacked...

The Silent backed away, shaking his head. Meta Knight's yellow eyes narrowed to slits. "Then _die._"

The flame-shaped sword came roaring from it's sheath, sharp blades coming down on Nathan's neck. The Silent ducked out of the way, just in time, but Meta Knight had anticipated this. Cape flaring, the small knight vanished briefly before re-materializing right behind Nathan, sword out stretched.

Silence returned. Nothing moved.

And with a heavy thud, Nathan collapsed onto the ground, long gashes oozing blood over his entire body. Light shone- then Nathan was a trophy again, and Louie was alone against one of the supreme fighters of the universe.

Galaxia turned to point at Louie. "You knew the consequences of your actions. You will have no chance for redemption."

Louie closed his eyes and started praying- what else could he do? He wasn't a particularly zealous person...the Hocotatians did not pray much, if it all. But humans did, and it seemed to work for them.

_Please...please, whoever is pulling the strings, _Louie thought. _Please help me now. Please help all of us._

Meta Knight did not attack, but not out of mercy. He had been distracted by the clicking sound of a gun cocking.

"Freeze!"

A young human, male but with long, blond hair tied back up in a ponytail beneath his wide-rimmed cap, held a gun, pointing at Meta Knight before switching to Louie before flashing back to Meta Knight again. His eyes were wide and fearful.

What were they called again? Police men...law enforcers. Louie opened his mouth, and immediately the police man's shaking gun turned in his direction, trembling uncontrollably.

"Don't move!", the police man cried, licking dry lips. His finger was uncomfortably close to the trigger.

Slowly, Louie raised his hands- the universal sign for "Look, I'm not carrying a big murderous weapon". He hoped his Pikmin were alright- they had fled into dark crevices in the rubble after Meta Knight had swooped upon them. Speaking of Meta Knight...

"Don't do it." Louie said again, this time to Meta Knight.

"You are no position to give me orders." Meta Knight spat. "Either of you."

The gun once again shifted targets; the police man's eyes were bugging out now, and he was babbling frantically. "Re...reinforcements will be here soon! You won't escape!"

"Oh, shut _up_." Meta Knight groaned, tensing his stance to strike.

"He's not a trophy, Meta Knight." Louie barked. "You hurt him, you kill him for good. And even you wouldn't do that."

At the mention of "kill", the police man snapped. He let loose two bullets, in quick succession. Meta Knight flinched, as one would if a large fly flew straight at your head, but he was otherwise unfazed as the metal spheres clinked harmlessly off of his mask.

The pistol fell with a clatter to the floor. "Wh...what ARE YOU?!" the police man cried, entire body paralyzed with fear.

"Me?" Meta Knight said slowly, as if that was a question he had never really thought about before. He picked up a fallen bullet thoughtfully. "My body cannot be...punctured, or scratched, or harmed in a physically crippling way. I exist in a state of preservation- no! Better than that. A state of perfection. My body is as hard as diamond, and I possess the strength of hundreds of mortal men. I can jump on air, run on water, even journey to death's door and come back. And I am not the only one of my kind."

He tossed the bullet back to the now retreating police man. "You will live, human, to carry my message. Let your friends know that...we are coming. Let them know that, mortal man, and your life will be a little longer."

"As for you," Meta Knight said, turning on Louie and ignoring the shivering police man. "I'll spare you. Revive your friends, build a resistance, whatever. This kindly man has just reminded me how _weak_ you all are. When our work is done...then, maybe, you might be worth fighting. To dirty Galaxia with your blood, in your pitiful, current state, would be a dishonor."

Tossing Louie aside, Meta Knight's cape transformed into bat-like wings, and he launched himself off the earth and flew into the sky. The police man, who's legs had given way long ago, stared open mouthed first at Meta Knight, then at Louie, and finally he noticed Nathan's trophy.

"Oh, my God!" he cried, strength suddenly returning to his legs as he scrambled up against the nearest support, a semi-collapsed wall. "What did you do to him?!"

"Relax." Louie sighed, heaving himself up from the small hole his fall had made. "He'll be fine- that is, if we manage to get out of this in one piece."

"We?!" the police man squeaked. "When did I become part of this?!"

"Well...I was talking about him and me. But if you want to, I wouldn't mind help..."

"No! Well...if it'll help the guys at HQ figure this out...I mean, this is like an _actual_ alien invasion, and...oh! I don't know." the police man groaned, head in hands. "I don't know what to do...God, what do I do?"

Louie allowed himself to sit. He was tired and tense. He could only handle so many crises at a time. _Guys got a point. What do I do?

* * *

_

Ayane didn't take the time to look at who she had freed- she just up and ran. And as she did, she changed.

Skin bursting into flame, her hair receded as her head elongated. The nose pressed back as the nostrils flared, and her eyes narrowed into dilated slits. As a Primid lunged forward, she lashed out with her hand- except it was no longer a hand, but a flaming claw. The fires burned down, leaving her entire body charcoal black, but it was already hardening into glossy, jet black scales. She turned to face two more Primids who had sneaked up from behind, Scope guns pointing, but a sudden tail that had sprouted from behind knocked them away.

Smoke was pouring from her facial orifices, thick, black smoke that filled your lungs and sucked out the coolness of the air. Ayane reared her head and shrieked, a harsh inhumane sound that revealed sharp fangs and a forked tongue. As Ayane lowered her head, two gargantuan, leathery black wings unfolded behind her.

Crushing another Primid into Shadow Bugs with a Godzilla-esque foot, The Dragon turned to the Primid armada and brought her prey into sharp focus. She attacked.

Several Primids were speared on the spot by her huge claws, but a couple managed to sidestep the onslaught and attacked. It was less than effective- several of the frailer Primids were shaken to pieces when they punched and kicked the dragon, the Scope energy bursts simply dissipated on the thick, armor-like skin, and the fire of the Fire Primids left Ayane unfazed.

She looked down imperiously at the meager force, and smirked in a way only dragons can- a contemptuous, reptilian sneer that was cold and unforgiving. It said "_You think that's fire? Let me show you real fire._"

The Dragon reared her head, opening her maw wide to fill her lungs with oxygen, before snapping back down and expelling a raging inferno of black and purple upon them. When the flames subsided, only charred metal remained. She turned to take on the next wave, but before the carnage could begin anew, something big tackled her.

The Big Primid who had been looking for an opening to enter the fray had found it. Following the tackle with a devastating blow to the chin, the Big Primid stood even with Ayane. Snarling, The Dragon lunged, neck like a snake, and bit the Big Primids slack arm clean off.

Before the result of the Big Primid could dissolve with the already blurry shoulder, though, several of the smaller Primids swarmed to the wound, recreating the lost limb. Ayane snarled, getting back on her feet to circle the Big Primid, who remained as emotionless as ever.

The two giants lunged at the same time.

* * *

Now, this entire time, you might have wondered what was happening to our recently revived and so far unnamed heroes. That was because they had troubles of their own.

Their cage had suffered quite a large amount of injury when Ayane had broken the chain connected to the ceiling- a safety measure, it seemed, so that intruders could not do exactly what Ayane did. It was a good idea- if not for the fact that the intruder was as tall as the ceiling. And from the wreckage, two people emerged.

The two were almost exact mirror images of each other- both with long, black hair that fell down beyond their shoulders, small frames, and wide eyes. They were both dressed in T-shirts, jeans, and track shoes, and both had pale and fair skin.

* * *

**Amanda and Monica, the Twins**

**

* * *

**

The two Scope Primids that Ayane had knocked away had conveniently landed right in the laps of the still woozy twins, and per instructions, wasted no time preparing to shoot the escaped prisoners.

On the floor with seconds left, the twins subconsciously held each other's hands for comfort. And they saw.

The Primids were no longer robotic drones, but simply a writhing mass of Shadow Bugs- the heaviest concentration was at its head, especially the general eye area. The rest of the body was only sparsely covered. They were weak physically, but made it up with supreme aim and long-distance weapons.

Without even a spare glance of communication, Amanda and Monica acted, still holding hands. The Primids, caught by surprise, fired- but the twins moved with an agility previously unknown to man, skipping out of the way, and then pummeling their spare hand into the Primid's stomachs.

The little soldiers dissolved into nothing, and Amanda and Monica picked up their fallen scope rifles. They didn't question their new found ability; they simply turned to take care of the next problem.

Every time the great dragon wounded the Big Primid, smaller ones jumped in to heal the wounds- but there was nothing to heal Ayane. So if the smaller Primids were taken care of...

Amanda and Monica aimed, and fired.

* * *

Through a bloody daze, Ayane saw the two little heroines shoot. For a moment her spirit's lifted- but then they fell. There was no way two little shots could take out the Big Primid, and it would put the smallest of dents in the regular Primid armada.

Then she saw where the two shots were aiming.

With a sudden roar of triumph, strength flooded back into her limbs, enough for one more heave. The Big Primid stumbled backwards as a mighty dragon shoulder butted it in the stomach, and it fell on its rear in the crowd of Primids, who were sitting ducks for the iron cages falling down to meet them.

Remember how the Twins' cage was suspended from the ceiling? That was true for all the cages. The chains were weak, and under the blow from the shots, snapped. And it didn't matter how big you were. A half ton of falling iron is going to hurt.

* * *

"How the _hell_ did you convince me to do that?! And how the _hell _did it work?!"

Louie and the policeman were inside a shabby apartment now- dirty clothing littered the floor, and the furniture was all in various states of disrepair. Louie sank into a dilapidated armchair, as his Pikmin danced in joy through the numerous "treasures". "I dunno. Must be karma."

The policeman stared open-mouthed at Louie, who was now picking at the cotton stuffing of the chair, amazed at how relaxed the Hocotatian seemed. Finally, he managed to splutter out a response. "K-karma?!" he repeated. "You think I managed to lie to my commanding officers, and they _believed_ me I might add, sneak _you_ out a crime scene, and...and...and what the _hell_ are we supposed to do with him?!" the policeman cried, pointing rather animatedly at Nathan's trophy.

"You don't need to tell me, I was there." Louie replied casually, adjusting his butt in the seat. "And the kid? Let him rest, he's had a long day."

The gesticulating policeman froze. "You...you mean he's not dead?"

Louie laughed, chucking some chair innards to his Pikmin. "Dead? It would take almighty God to smite him down Himself to kill a trophy. Nah, he just needs a little quiet time."

The policeman slumped into a chipped, wooden armchair, sighing. "That's good. Nathan is a good kid...a bit quiet, but good."

"So _that's _his name!" Louie cried, snapping his finger in sudden discovery. "So, Nate, huh? That's an OK name...what's yours."

The policeman opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Louie raised an eyebrow. "What, you think once I found out your name I'm going to take you over as a host body? Relax, there's no harm in telling anyone your _name_."

"Ernie."

"Mine's Louie. Nice to meet you."

Ernie closed his eyes and laughed out loud. It was a strange laugh- a smaller spark of joy lay underneath layers of hysteria, tinged with a lining of relief. "I never imagined I would meet an alien named Louie..."

Louie laughed with him. What else could they do? For a moment, that was all they did- like two old buddies sharing a private joke, they laughed. And as Ernie wiped a tear from his eye, he froze. His eyes fixated on the cracked window. "Louie?", he asked.

"Yeah, Ernie?"

"Are the little bug-things...good guys?"

Louie picked up a Purple Pikmin by the stem. "These guys? They're harmless...well, at least to me. You shouldn't tell that to the Bulborbs their Onions have devoured, though!" He chuckled at his own joke, but Ernie did not. He didn't even smile. Louie's goofy grin slowly deflated. "Ah, come on. It wasn't that bad a joke, was it?"

Ernie just pointed. "I was talking about...those."

And then the first, shaking violet sphere squeezed through the window.

* * *

**Dear God...this took a month to write. I really need to speed up these updates...**

**But, yeah. Holiday stuff has kept me busy, I just finished my school's rendition of "It's a Wonderful Life" (I was Mr. Potter...heehee...), and I just watched Angels and Demons, so now all I can think about is conspiracy theories and ambigrams...**

**My New Year's Resolution will be to update...quicker! And now, in the months of January and February, I will be in denial and try to complete this resolution, but by the time March comes I will have given up completely. That is my theory (please, let it not be true...I want to be in denial for at least a quarter of the year!).**

**I can hear the sirens of the anti-word count buffer police coming, so I'll close for now. Until next time- ta, chums!  
**


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